Three of the signings are members of the recently-selected national team to compete at July’s OFC Men’s U-19 Championship.
All six are joining from Northern League clubs. They are:
Luis Toomey (22), attacking midfielder, signed from Eastern Suburbs. Formerly with the Wellington Phoenix youth set-up, he spent six months with Finnish club Pallo-Iirot.
Liam Gillion (21), winger, signed from Auckland City. Gillion joined Auckland City after playing junior football for Manurewa and youth football for Wellington’s Western Suburbs.
Finn McKenlay (18), midfielder, signed from Eastern Suburbs. Previous clubs include Birkenhead United, East Coast Bays and Onehunga Sports. Selected for the national team for July’s OFC Men’s U-19 Championship.
Adama Coulibaly (19), midfielder/defender, signed from Western Springs. He’s been included in the New Zealand team for the OFC Men’s U-19 Championship in July.
Oliver Middleton (18), midfielder, signed from Auckland United, where he has come through the club’s academy. Another selected for the national team for the OFC Men’s U-19 Championship.
Jonty Bidois (19), forward, signed from Tauranga City. One of the leading goalscorers in this season’s Northern League, he played for Christchurch United in last year’s Men’s National League.
The latest signings bring the Auckland FC squad to 12.
Tauranga City’s Jonty Bidois … has landed a contract with Auckland FC. Photo: Jackie Tran Van / Phototek.
Previously-announced signings are: Cam Howieson (29), Francis De Vries (29), Michael Woud (25), Jesse Randall (21), Tommy Smith (34), and Max Mata (23).
Who is still to come?
Auckland FC head coach Steve Corica says he and the club’s director of football, Terry McFlynn, have been targeting the signing of the best New Zealand players first.
He told NewstalkZB’s D’Arcy Waldegrave they needed to secure New Zealand players before their current clubs got them under contract, “so we can’t get them.”
“I think the foreigners for us would normally come a little bit later, probably in July/August sometime, so there’ll be players available, and good players available around that time,” Corica said.
They've still yet to announce a single signing that you could confidently say will be decent at A-League level. I was hoping for a few big names by now with all the talk of big spending and marquees.
All six are scholarship deals, fyi. Really surprised that Gillion and especially Toomey are on them!
Must mean that they have some further quality signings to come, and likely using all 5 visa spots. Can still see Gillion & Toomey cracking match day squads early on.
From memory Callan Elliot, Champness, Hall & Brimmer seem the most certain other rumoured signings, so that gets you up to 16 before any visa players.
An A-League squad must comprise a minimum of 20 players with a maximum of 26, subject to several limitations.
Within the squad, there can be a maximum of five "foreign" or "Visa" players, from outside Australia (and New Zealand, in the case of Wellington Phoenix), that hold a temporary working-visa.
Three players in the squad must also be under 20 years of age.
In addition to these three under 20 players, clubs are allowed to sign an additional three youth players onto full-time contracts at a lower pay rate than the rest of the squad.
Teams can sign up to 9 U-20 players on minimum wage called Scholarship Players who don't count in the squad. Unless they are one of the 3 U21's in the squad, any payments above the national minimum wage to these Players are included in the club's Salary Cap.
They've still yet to announce a single signing that you could confidently say will be decent at A-League level. I was hoping for a few big names by now with all the talk of big spending and marquees.
Was a lot of that sort of talk last off season with the Nix, them basically signing no one of note, just lots of Weenix kids getting upgraded.
Sounds like the AFC visa player announcements will happen July/August. If Champness, Hall & Brimmer are all signed that is 3 proven ALM performers. Elliot less so. I'm confident Howieson has the experience and talent to do well. He would have played in the ALM well before now, if he'd chosen to leave Auckland.
At least 2-3 of Woud, Smith, FDV, Randall & Mata will go okay. But yeah some of them may flop.
The rumoured Japanese RB Sakai has a great CV. Easily good enough for the ALM if at 34 he's still fit & not slow. I think the AFC visa signings overall will be higher quality than what the Nix have, just because with Foley's cash they can go big on marquee players.
Corica & McFlynn have both been around the ALM a long time, they will know very well, what sort of squad they need, to push for finals in Season 1. They have basically with the first 12 players named, ticked off the boxes of 'Kiwi Player Core' and 'Embed in the local football community by signing local kids'.
Now they have carte blanche to sign some big name visa players, and experienced ALM (Aussie) performers.
An A-League squad must comprise a minimum of 20 players with a maximum of 26, subject to several limitations.
Within the squad, there can be a maximum of five "foreign" or "Visa" players, from outside Australia (and New Zealand, in the case of Wellington Phoenix), that hold a temporary working-visa.
Three players in the squad must also be under 20 years of age.
In addition to these three under 20 players, clubs are allowed to sign an additional three youth players onto full-time contracts at a lower pay rate than the rest of the squad.
Teams can sign up to 9 U-20 players on minimum wage called Scholarship Players who don't count in the squad. Unless they are one of the 3 U21's in the squad, any payments above the national minimum wage to these Players are included in the club's Salary Cap.
It is now 16 scholarships available for clubs to use now. Since they don't have an Academy up and running, they might fill all those spots to expand their training group tbh. Scholarships are outside the cap, so nice of them to pay the players for their time to train with the squad.
Interesting to see how many of those players are midfielders.
Middleton and McKenlay are deep-lying CMs with very similar technical profiles (though McKenlay's quite a bit bigger), Coulibaly is a DM who's played CB this season for Springs (but can play pretty much anywhere, having been an AM/winger in seasons past), and Toomey's an AM. Gillion and Bidois both mobile forwards that operate in channels.
Going to be a lot of competition in that reserve team for both minutes and promotion
Cheers RR. They also need to assemble a Reserve team (Auckland FC II) to play in next year's Northern League, and likely the 205 National League that follows. All without yet having an Academy up & going.
So yeah by the time the ALM starts in October, they could have close to 30 players on their books, who train together out at Albany through the summer ALM.
Maybe 2 ausis reputed to have signed and two kiwis off contract in Champness, Elliot next week.
And then imports the following week plus maybe a big kiwi signing like a Singh/Rojas?
If Singh has signed for AFC then I would have expected to see him in the NZ OFC nations cup squad and be talked about as a possibility for the Olympics.
Although I reckon it wouldn't be all that bad for Singh to have a season back home and in the A league. He's been doing it tough in Europe. Isolated by covid first, then injuries, underperforming for club. Must all be pretty mentally draining. A reset wouldn't be a bad option.
Well Auckland FC are visiting the Tron, Marco's old home town. Maybe they can twist his arm with a free sausage. Though he's in fairness unlikely to be visiting the Waikato in late June. Less Bling FC with every passing day
Waikato Derby
Keep an eye out for the boys in the Auckland FC tent! They will be doing a free sausage sizzle, handing our flyers and running a draw to be into win lunch with Steve Corica & Terry McFlynn.
This is a fantastic opportunity to chat about football with Auckland FC.
Don’t miss out on this exciting event and local derby.
Auckland FC x Melville United x Hamilton Wanderers
It irritates my Waikato connections a bit that Auckland FC are acting like Hamilton et al is part of their dominion. But perhaps they are? Especially if the Nix don’t sign from outside their academy.
And come on Coochie, you’re going to look at the marquee and import players, next to the staff and have to admit the club isn’t short of coin.
A signing like Sakai isn’t one the Nix would’ve made recently, especially as the Nix talked about not being able to afford Kosta, Kraev and Zawada after last season…Sakai is a clear Bling signing- older player with a bit of name recognition and pedigree, and a high wage bill.
It irritates my Waikato connections a bit that Auckland FC are acting like Hamilton et al is part of their dominion. But perhaps they are? Especially if the Nix don’t sign from outside their academy.
And come on Coochie, you’re going to look at the marquee and import players, next to the staff and have to admit the club isn’t short of coin.
A signing like Sakai isn’t one the Nix would’ve made recently, especially as the Nix talked about not being able to afford Kosta, Kraev and Zawada after last season…Sakai is a clear Bling signing- older player with a bit of name recognition and pedigree, and a high wage bill.
They're working the golden triangle - Auckland x Hamilton x Tauranga. A reasonable way to go about things while they're setting up and getting established, especially as a full fledged academy will be some way off. Players in that top bit of the North Island are clearly the catchment area they will want to have a strong presence over.
As an example, I've heard there is some chatter re: Luke Brooke-Smith around what an Auckland move might look like for him with a possible move north of the Bombay's and then into the reserves for AFC for next season in the Northern League. There's a couple of others in that age range (15-17) that are being monitored as well, but for the most part they are already in Auckland.
It irritates my Waikato connections a bit that Auckland FC are acting like Hamilton et al is part of their dominion. But perhaps they are? Especially if the Nix don’t sign from outside their academy.
And come on Coochie, you’re going to look at the marquee and import players, next to the staff and have to admit the club isn’t short of coin.
A signing like Sakai isn’t one the Nix would’ve made recently, especially as the Nix talked about not being able to afford Kosta, Kraev and Zawada after last season…Sakai is a clear Bling signing- older player with a bit of name recognition and pedigree, and a high wage bill.
With respect, I'm pretty sure the good footballers of Hamilton are able to make their own decisions about whether to send their kids north or south lol
Seriously, territory? That's not how it works with universities, UoA, VUW, Otago etc all compete to get the brightest kids from around the country, so should it be with football. You'll see Auckland kids continue to go to the Nix and Wellington kids going to AFC, depending on the deal they're offered
Well Auckland FC are visiting the Tron, Marco's old home town. Maybe they can twist his arm with a free sausage. Though he's in fairness unlikely to be visiting the Waikato in late June. Less Bling FC with every passing day
Waikato Derby
Keep an eye out for the boys in the Auckland FC tent! They will be doing a free sausage sizzle, handing our flyers and running a draw to be into win lunch with Steve Corica & Terry McFlynn.
This is a fantastic opportunity to chat about football with Auckland FC.
Don’t miss out on this exciting event and local derby.
Auckland FC x Melville United x Hamilton Wanderers
And the Nix seem to be very aware of Auckland making moves on that North Island space, and have offered training camps this year in Dunedin, Christchurch and Nelson in partnership with local clubs. More options and spots for young players is only a good thing in my eyes.
It irritates my Waikato connections a bit that Auckland FC are acting like Hamilton et al is part of their dominion. But perhaps they are? Especially if the Nix don’t sign from outside their academy.
And come on Coochie, you’re going to look at the marquee and import players, next to the staff and have to admit the club isn’t short of coin.
A signing like Sakai isn’t one the Nix would’ve made recently, especially as the Nix talked about not being able to afford Kosta, Kraev and Zawada after last season…Sakai is a clear Bling signing- older player with a bit of name recognition and pedigree, and a high wage bill.
They're working the golden triangle - Auckland x Hamilton x Tauranga. A reasonable way to go about things while they're setting up and getting established, especially as a full fledged academy will be some way off. Players in that top bit of the North Island are clearly the catchment area they will want to have a strong presence over.
As an example, I've heard there is some chatter re: Luke Brooke-Smith around what an Auckland move might look like for him with a possible move north of the Bombay's and then into the reserves for AFC for next season in the Northern League. There's a couple of others in that age range (15-17) that are being monitored as well, but for the most part they are already in Auckland.
Looking at the AFC Supporters FB group, there are already football fans in the Tron & Tauranga/Mount planning to organise transport up to Penrose. And no doubt they will be a bit more engaged if they know one of their own like a Jonty Bidois or Brooke-Smith is in the wider Auckland squad.
For sure AFC have some cash, and their imports if the Sakai rumours are true are likely to have a profile, plus I expect when season start nears they will go big on the marketing razzamatazz. But to me Bling means behaving like a peacock, and so far they have been smart and been the complete opposite.
Showing up at Northern League games regularly, dropping into various club trainings midweek. Lots of grass roots stuff. More sausage sizzle than prawn sandwich to date. When is the last time a Nix staffer attended a non Weenix Central League game. There are people in the Wellington club scene who feel the Nix don't engage with them at all.
But yes is apples verus oranges, with Nix now solely recruiting Kiwis from their Academy, and the new boys actively filling their roster (especially incoming Reserve team) from the NZ domestic scene. Early days but so far, you can't fault their community engagement stuff, after Foley promised they would do it well.
A better barometer I guess will be how they are perceived in 12 months, when they have a AFC II team in the Northern League. A stacked team who may dominate that comp, leading to a few local football folk not so pleased. They seem to be selecting 18-19 yr olds for their Reserve team, guys already with 1-2 seasons experienced in the Northern League. Should make them a stronger reserve team than say Weenix are mostly what 16-17 yr olds??
And the Nix seem to be very aware of Auckland making moves on that North Island space, and have offered training camps this year in Dunedin, Christchurch and Nelson in partnership with local clubs. More options and spots for young players is only a good thing in my eyes.
It makes a huge amount of sense for the Nix to strengthen their ties now to the South Island. 'Build their brand' there. Plenty of Cantabs in the current Nix senior squads (esp women). Surman leaves, but Luke Supyk steps up. Tze-Xuan Loke from Dunners is apparently one to watch.
And Te Kaha, ChCh's new roofed stadium from early 2026, will be a go to destination for the whole Mainland. Can see the Nix drawing 15,000 plus, each time they take a game there. The new home away from home.
It irritates my Waikato connections a bit that Auckland FC are acting like Hamilton et al is part of their dominion. But perhaps they are? Especially if the Nix don’t sign from outside their academy.
And come on Coochie, you’re going to look at the marquee and import players, next to the staff and have to admit the club isn’t short of coin.
A signing like Sakai isn’t one the Nix would’ve made recently, especially as the Nix talked about not being able to afford Kosta, Kraev and Zawada after last season…Sakai is a clear Bling signing- older player with a bit of name recognition and pedigree, and a high wage bill.
They're working the golden triangle - Auckland x Hamilton x Tauranga. A reasonable way to go about things while they're setting up and getting established, especially as a full fledged academy will be some way off. Players in that top bit of the North Island are clearly the catchment area they will want to have a strong presence over.
As an example, I've heard there is some chatter re: Luke Brooke-Smith around what an Auckland move might look like for him with a possible move north of the Bombay's and then into the reserves for AFC for next season in the Northern League. There's a couple of others in that age range (15-17) that are being monitored as well, but for the most part they are already in Auckland.
Looking at the AFC Supporters FB group, there are already football fans in the Tron & Tauranga/Mount planning to organise transport up to Penrose. And no doubt they will be a bit more engaged if they know one of their own Jonty Bidois or Brooke-Smith is in the wider Auckland squad.
For sure AFC have some cash, and their imports if the Sakai rumours are true are likely to have a profile, plus I expect when season start nears they will go big on the marketing razzamatazz. But to me Bling means behaving like a peacock, and so far they have been smart and been the complete opposite.
Showing up at Northern League games regularly, dropping into various club trainings midweek. Lots of grass roots stuff. More sausage sizzle than prawn sandwich to date. When is the last time a Nix staffer attended a non Weenix Central League game. There are people in the Wellington club scene who feel the Nix don't engage with them at all.
But yes is apples verus oranges, with Nix now solely recruiting Kiwis from their Academy, and the new boys actively filling their roster (especially incoming Reserve team) from the NZ domestic scene. Early days but so far, you can't fault their community engagement stuff, after Foley promised they would do it well.
A better barometer I guess will be how they are perceived in 12 months, when they have a AFC II team in the Northern League. A stacked team who may dominate that comp, leading to a few local football folk not so pleased. They seem to be selecting 18-19 yr olds for their Reserve team, guys already with 1-2 seasons experienced in the Northern League. Should make them a stronger reserve team than say Weenix are mostly what 16-17 yr olds??
It's certainly an interesting comparison between how the nix got started and AFC have begun. A lot of that I think comes down to some massive historic dislike of Terry around the business and local clubs and then the apparent stripping of talent from clubs by the Welnix teams when they were trying to build a youth team under the guise of various clubs (Wellington United, Lower Hutt etc). The road for AFC will be easier as the path has been cleared by the Nix already, so when it comes to having an academy team playing in a local comp the work has already been done on how to make it happen. I find the anti nix sentiment amongst local clubs really frustrating, and I'm sure Welnix do as well. They certainly say they have engaged with local clubs over the years but the sentiment from those more involved than me is very anti Nix and their involvement in Cap football seems to be more endured than celebrated.
And the Nix seem to be very aware of Auckland making moves on that North Island space, and have offered training camps this year in Dunedin, Christchurch and Nelson in partnership with local clubs. More options and spots for young players is only a good thing in my eyes.
It makes a huge amount of sense for the Nix to strengthen their ties now to the South Island. 'Build their brand' there. Plenty of Cantabs in the current Nix senior squads (esp women). Surman leaves, but Luke Supyk steps up. Tze-Xuan Loke from Dunners is apparently one to watch.
And Te Kaha, ChCh's new roofed stadium from early 2026, will be a go to destination for the whole Mainland. Can see the Nix drawing 15,000 plus, each time they take a game there. The new home away from home.
Surman, Sheridan, Supyk all from Canterbury in the Nix men right now. Like you said the women's team is chock full as well - Lake, Taylor, Longo, Fraser, Whinham, McMeeken, Brazendale all from Canterbury/Nelson in last year's squad. Might as well be a Canterbury Pride team in the A-League at this rate
The emergence of AFC in a way may help the Nix perception in the Welly football scene. For they are going to have a lot less kids from the upper NI come down to the Weenix Academy. More of those kids will naturally look closer to home to Albany or wherever AFC setp their Academy.
And with Foley's cash I imagine it will quickly be a very well resourced joint. A guy at Auckland City I know, reckons you can expect Auckland FC's Academy to develop at about double the speed of Weenix. So of course some of NZ's best promising players, that would have previously gone to Welly, won't be. Sail, Old, Paulsen, Singh, GSR just a couple of Nix Aucklanders I can think of.
So yeah the Nix are going to have to look a bit more local, and as per the posts above, the South Island. But more Waines, and Cacaces in the team - kids who have come from local Welly clubs - might mean more local football folk get engaged.
The other factor is the decline it seems of the Ole Academy. I mean previously you had talents like Garbett, Stamenic (Welly lads), Just (Palmy North), Pijnaker (Rotorua) who got indoctrinated by Declan to bypass the local pro club completely. Only McCowatt tried the Nix. Now it seems there is steady trickle of kids moving from Ole to Weenix. Fergus Gillion is one and there are a number of others. So that at least should mean more Western Suburbs folk show an interest in the Nix.
The emergence of AFC in a way may help the Nix perception in the Welly football scene. For they are going to have a lot less kids from the upper NI come down to the Weenix Academy. More of those kids will naturally look closer to home to Albany or wherever AFC setp their Academy.
And with Foley's cash I imagine it will quickly be a very well resourced joint. A guy at Auckland City I know, reckons you can expect Auckland FC's Academy to develop at about double the speed of Weenix. So of course some of NZ's best promising players, that would have previously gone to Welly, won't be. Sail, Old, Paulsen, Singh, GSR just a couple of Nix Aucklanders I can think of.
So yeah the Nix are going to have to look a bit more local, and as per the posts above, the South Island. But more Waines, and Cacaces in the team - kids who have come from local Welly clubs - might mean more local football folk get engaged.
The other factor is the decline it seems of the Ole Academy. I mean previously you had talents like Garbett, Stamenic (Welly lads), Just (Palmy North), Pijnaker (Rotorua) who got indoctrinated by Declan to bypass the local pro club completely. Only McCowatt tried the Nix. Now it seems there is steady trickle of kids moving from Ole to Weenix. Fergus Gillion is one and there are a number of others. So that at least should mean more Western Suburbs folk show an interest in the Nix.
The Nix's Academy was kick-started by acquiring the Asia Pacific Football Academy. I wonder if Auckland might look at Ole in a similar way? Danny Hay seemed to be on good terms with Ole whilst he was coaching Eastern Suburbs.
The emergence of AFC in a way may help the Nix perception in the Welly football scene. For they are going to have a lot less kids from the upper NI come down to the Weenix Academy. More of those kids will naturally look closer to home to Albany or wherever AFC setp their Academy.
And with Foley's cash I imagine it will quickly be a very well resourced joint. A guy at Auckland City I know, reckons you can expect Auckland FC's Academy to develop at about double the speed of Weenix. So of course some of NZ's best promising players, that would have previously gone to Welly, won't be. Sail, Old, Paulsen, Singh, GSR just a couple of Nix Aucklanders I can think of.
So yeah the Nix are going to have to look a bit more local, and as per the posts above, the South Island. But more Waines, and Cacaces in the team - kids who have come from local Welly clubs - might mean more local football folk get engaged.
The other factor is the decline it seems of the Ole Academy. I mean previously you had talents like Garbett, Stamenic (Welly lads), Just (Palmy North), Pijnaker (Rotorua) who got indoctrinated by Declan to bypass the local pro club completely. Only McCowatt tried the Nix. Now it seems there is steady trickle of kids moving from Ole to Weenix. Fergus Gillion is one and there are a number of others. So that at least should mean more Western Suburbs folk show an interest in the Nix.
The Nix's Academy was kick-started by acquiring the Asia Pacific Football Academy. I wonder if Auckland might look at Ole in a similar way? Danny Hay seemed to be on good terms with Ole whilst he was coaching Eastern Suburbs.
Doubt the Auckland club acquires an academy based in Wellington with Wellington based coaches and players. Not exactly much value in taking that north. Very few of the existing players are likely to have their parents up sticks and move to a different city, especially since Ole isnt quite what it was when Declan was active.
AFC will either establish their own or buy into an existing setup, although I don't know myself what really exists up there at the moment.
Auckland United have big Academy don't they? Wynton's Wynrs still going?
But I imagine AFC will want to mode their Academy in their own image, with complete control on how it's set up and run. With Foley's money I doubt they need to buy into an existing Auckland setup. Also you do that you risk potentially being associated with one local club (like AU) over the others, and dragged into some local football politics.
In a salary capped league (yes with marquee players etc), it's the off the field resources stuff, where can see Auckland FC quickly becoming a force in the A League. So yes a little of that Bling FC image, when a billionaire owner comes to the fore.
This is Bournemouth FC's new training facility (mens, womens, academy teams) nearing construction completion. 57 acre site. Cost £35M, and Foley states it will be one of the best in the EPL. Bit of wow factor for when Paulsen arrives. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9OfPf6gtAs
Can actually see training out at Albany initially working for AFC.
Pragnell is in love with this new Auckland team, so NZF HQ Albany will share some resources with them.
No other tenants to be bothered with. Seems the Warriors see Mt Smart as very much their domain, all the training stuff there setup specific to rugby league. Even Super Rugby battlers Moana Pasika have moved on from Penrose.
And then yeah in a city with terrible traffic you want your players living not too far from the daily training ground. The North Shore (not that I've ever lived there) IMHO is Auckland's nicest, most liveable place to reside. If you are selling some EPL player & his WAG on the South Pacific paradise narrative, then yeah you want them living near the Shore's great beaches and lovely views of the Gulf islands. Plenty of spots to enter the jet ski.
Park them up in Remuera with all the driving delays of getting out of there, and well they could be back in London.
Investing smartly in a long term future isn’t very bling! It’s Del Piero, Dwight Yorke and Jardel… plus a lot of over stroked egos amongst aging local players…It’s trying to buy the league…
And it’s also losing to Filipe or Tim Brown goals…😎
But to be fair how many other clubs have a consortium of billionaires funding their club? All the others are millionaires at best I think? Not counting City of course!
The Shore definitely has some blinging beaches round the bays! But the access to the black sand for the surfers through the new motorway to Kumeu is also fairly decent. Piha and it’s cousins have their own cachet…
